Hermione's Secret
by DjPaulyC
Summary: So here is a story dedicated to Hermione's secret. Read to find out more! R&R!
1. Chapter 1

So yeah I had this inspiration for this story about Draco and Hermione. She has a secret she's not proud of. This is the first chapter and my first Dramione fic I've ever written. Um R&R please thanks! Oh and Sorry it's so short!

_djpaulyc_

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><p>My name is Hermione Jean Granger and I have a secret. It's not horribly terrible but I'm not proud of it. Why would I be the proud of it? This is the story of that secret.<p>

It was Fifth year, the year Umbridge took over as Defense Against the Dark Arts and Headmaster, and everyone was stressing over our O.W.L. exams for they were only a little more than a fortnight away. I was in the library almost every chance I got by then. That's when he approached me.

"Mud- I mean Hermione right?" He asked walking up to me one night, a little shy but not quite.

"Draco Malfoy? Talking to a Mudblood like me? Careful a full blooded wizard like you should watch who he associates with." I sneered. Draco cracked a small smile.

"I wanted to ask you something, actually. Since you are and I quote, 'the greatest witch of our generation.'" He said a little less shy way and a little more like himself.

"Compliments won't get you anywhere. What do you want?" I asked looking back down at my Intermediate Transfiguration book.

"I was wondering if you'd help me. I know you're going to get at least 9 O. and I'm afraid I'm only going to get maybe three." He looked desperate.

"Oh my goodness. Draco Malfoy isn't going to get enough O. whatever will he do?" I laughed under my breath.

"No Hermione, I'm serious. I really need your help." He grabbed my hand and began groveling. I didn't pay enough attention to it to remember what exactly he said.

"Draco. Let go!" I pulled my hand away. "Now what is it you need help with?" I sighed pulling out my parchments and a satisfactory quill.

Draco smiled, "So you'll do it then?" He asked.

"I didn't say I was going to help I asked what it is you need help with. I don't want to start helping and find out that you need to learn Transfigurations all the way from first year." I replied simply.

Draco nodded understanding, "I need help in Care for Magical Creatures, Hagrid's a bloke; and History of Magic, who would let a ghost teach? I also need help with Potions." He counted them off on his fingers.

"Potions? You're Snape's favorite student!" I exclaimed a little too loudly for good measure.

"Being his favorite doesn't help me remember the recipe and results of Polyjuice Potion." Draco sat down at my desk. "Alright. I'll do it. By the way Polyjuice potion allows a human drinker to temporarily assume the form of another person." I smiled knowing all too well the effects of Polyjuice potion gone wrong.

"Yes! Thank you!" He cheered silently then leaned over and hugged me. I went as stiff as a stick and waited for him to release me. It didn't take long. When he realized what he had done he released me instantly and walked off very quickly. I was grateful for the moment to end as quickly as it had.

I went back to the library during both dinner and our free time after dinner. He waited for me there without me knowing he wanted to start right then. I was taken back by the sight of him sitting at a two person desk with sandwiches for us right after last hour, which for me was Ancient Runes.

"Hullo." He greeted me as I found him in the library near the door.

"Erm, hello Draco." I greeted back with a fake smile plastered on my face. The thing about me you should know is that I have a weakness for people who need help and I know Draco is one of them. Look at where he grew up, his father is a Death Eater and his aunt is Bellatrix Lestrange two people who could not have been good on his upbringing (not that Draco ever really met his aunt Bellatrix considering she was locked up in Azkaban since he was about a year old). He needed my help and how can I look at him knowing what I know about him and not help. Lucky for me.

"So what shall we work on first?" He asked pulling out some parchment and a quill.

"History of Magic, I suppose, since I need to study or that as well." I said pulling out my History of Magic book out of my bag.

"Professor Binns is a horrid teacher." Draco exclaimed pulling out his book as well.

"He drones, yes but he's not horrid. He just doesn't get to the point fast enough. I wasted six pieces of parchment last month on one of his lessons that wasn't even what he was teaching on. I was beyond furious." I confided. Ron and Harry would have laughed but Draco simply nodded not finding any humor in my anger.

We studied late the night before our O.W.L.s began. It was quiet except for the muttered charms Draco and I would whisper at each other while the other would have to perform it. It got pretty silly after a while when we would yell out nonsensical charms that we had never practiced before. It was nearly nine when we left.

"Well, thanks Hermione. I might do well now, all because of you." Draco said when we were at the door to exit the library.

"No it's not because of me. You're very smart but you overestimate yourself. You think it'll come naturally but it doesn't. Magic is a practice and reward system. But you're welcome, anyway." I said with a smile.

At that second he leaned in and pressed his pale, pure blooded lips to mine. I pulled away quickly about to say something but Malfoy had already ran out the door.

I sighed and left the library after him.


	2. Chapter 2

I know it's a short chapter but I kind of wanted it to cliffhang. Anyway enjoy R&R!

Oh and while writing this all I did was pretty much listen to Skinny Love by both Bon Iver and Birdy (it was a back and forth sort of deal) which is an amazing song!

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><p>That wasn't the end of my long history with Draco Malfoy, although looking back now I wish it had been. I spent a lot of time with him during the end of our fifth year. And then a short time in the summer sending owls back and forth with silly names for each other so Mrs. Malfoy wouldn't find out that he was talking to a Muggle born.<p>

That leads me to the end of summer. When I stayed at Mrs. Weasley's house. Harry went on and on about Draco's father being a Death Eater. I knew that it wasn't a subject Draco liked. He couldn't believe that his father was in Azkaban. He hoped his father would just escape so people would stop talking about it. And he wished his Aunt Bellatrix would get recaptured because she continually gave Draco a headache. He mentioned once about something he and his aunt had to do together but it was really dodgy. I didn't press the matter but I always wondered what Lord Voldemort would do to him since his dad was caught in the Ministry.

Ron and Harry, I learned after I had started befriending Draco, liked to down grade him. I kept my mouth shut for most of it. Sometimes I would offer a hopeful 'maybe he isn't so bad' but I would often just get drowned out of the conversation because I was not helpful enough.

We never talked about what had happened at the end of fifth year. He kissed me but he never mentioned why so I sort of let it go, especially since I was noticing things about Ron that I liked.

Our trip to Diagon Alley was one of the most interesting things that had happened because I refused to think that Draco was a Death Eater. Not that poor boy whose father was locked up in the worst wizard prison in the world. Not him.

We saw Draco in Madam Malkin's shop and he wouldn't let her roll up his left sleeve. I still refused to think he was one of Voldemort's lackeys. Then he left Diagon Alley to go to Borgin and Burkes. I couldn't deny the suspicion I felt toward him. Of course I went in there right after him and made a big mess of things. 'Course I was doing on purpose.

I wanted to know, almost as much as Harry, what Draco was buying at Borgin and Burkes. It wasn't exactly Weasley Wizard Wheezes now was it?

Once again I tried pushing the thought of Draco being a Death Eater out of my mind. Everything added up but Harry was pulling facts out of nowhere. It eventually drove Ron and I mad.

When we started school I knew Draco was going to give me the cold shoulder, pretend he thought I was filthy mudblood, that he never thought of being a blood traitor. Of course I expected it. Why would anything else come from Draco Malfoy?

But something else did happen. He was; he was different. Sure he was still arrogant and intolerable but there was something else. It almost reminded me of the time I threatened to jinx him and he nearly cried. Or the time I punched him . . . but it was definitely a scared, frightened look. He was too busy with his emotions to not treat me horribly. He even smiled at me in the Great Hall once.

One day, before the Quidditch match against Slytherin, when Ron's attitude problem with me was at its height I went to the library to get away from him in the common room. As soon as I set my things down to begin an essay from Snape in D.A.D.A Draco came up to me in haste. He nearly scared me to death!

"Draco." I said the way I used to when I thought of him as bully to my two best friends.

"Hermione." He said softly, slowly putting meaning into it.

"Fill me in. Now. What is going on? Harry keeps blaming you for silly things. Explain." I demanded conjuring a chair for him to sit in.

"I- I need you to, uhm, help me." Draco looked scared. It brought tears to my eyes.


	3. Chapter 3

So, this is the third chapter! yay. I feel like it's a little OOC but it is what it is. Review and let me know what you think. Uhh, enjoy and such. . .

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><p>I was scared at first, about what he was going to ask me. But then I really thought about it. What does it matter? Hadn't I already gave up on Ron since recently he's been so temperamental about everything lately. So much for teenage love. It's stupid anyway.<p>

"What do you need help with?" I asked slowly, calmly.

Draco told me his recent life story; what had been going on since his father had been in Azkaban. How the dark lord threatened to kill him and his family. How scared he was.

In the middle of the story, in explaining how scared he was, his eyes started watering and he had to stop. I consoled him for a while and he started up again. He had, however, never mentioned Professor Snape.

I felt bad for Malfoy. Truly bad and I am a compassionate person. Maybe that's why Draco came to me instead of Pansy Parkinson, who thinks Draco is hers; ha. He knew that I would not judge him, give him advice but not judge.

When I asked him what He-Who- Shall-Not-Be-Named wanted him to do he became very vague.

"He wants me to kill, erm- someone. But this someone is very powerful and I don't know how to do it. Plus, I don't want to." He said quickly without pause.

"To tell you the truth, I followed you when you went to Borgin and Burkes that day we were in Diagon Alley. There might be something there you could try." I suggested.

When we finished our conversation and I helped him as best I could, he asked me something.

"Will you please not tell anyone? I mean it."

"You have always found trust in me. Why would I tell?"

"Will you Vow? Will you do the Unbreakable Vow with me? If you break it you'll die. Please?" His grey eyes looked scared and worried. He didn't want to die he didn't want his family torn apart either. I simply nodded.

Crabbed served as the Bonder for the two of us, since he was also in the library at the time studying for one of his exams.

"Hermione, not sure what your middle name is, Granger,"

"Jean." I answered.

"What?" Draco had the most confused look on his face ever. I snorted.

"My middle name." I said when I composed myself long enough to speak again.

"What about it?" He said still complexed by me speaking.

"It's Jean. My middle name is Jean. Hermione Jean Granger is my name." I said with another laugh.

"Right. Then Hermione Jean Granger do you solemnly swear to never tell anyone what I just told you?" He gave the first request.

"I will."

"Do you swear to never mention to anyone about the Dark Mark on my left arm?"

"I will."

"Do you promise to never reveal anything about the subject of our meetings, yes there will be more, to anyone not even your closest friends?"

"Draco, I promise." I let a tear drip of my left eye to his hand.

"Alright. Crabbe, perform the magic." And with that fire erupted out of the wand and danced around our locked wrists forming a kind of handcuff that linked me to Draco.

"It's done. If you break it, you'll die. Hermione are you alright?" Draco looked concerned because I had just stumbled backward into the chair he had been sitting in.

"F-fine. I think." I was breathing heavily.

"I'm taking you to Madam Pomfrey. Right now. Up you go." Draco pulled me by arms and I leaned against his chest. Listening to his heartbeat calmed me more than the prospect of going to see Madam Pomfrey.

"Don't let go." I whispered. I was afraid he hadn't heard me, but at the same afraid he did hear me and simply wouldn't know how to respond.

With my head still against his chest he whispered back, "Never."

He wrapped his arms around me and laid his head atop of mine.

I could only imagine what Ron and Harry would think if they saw this scene in the library.

I remember reading a line in a book once:

This is the story of a girl who has known heartbreak and sadness and a boy who knows of cruelty and anger. Together they're fixing each other's hearts and healing themselves with what the other has.

Maybe this was how it was with Draco and I. Was he my first true love? Or am I foolish to think this would ever work considering my best friend is Harry Potter and his father is a Death Eater.

When I felt a little better, I lifted my tear streaked face from Draco's chest and looked up at him.

"Why me?" I asked very quietly. My insides pounded with the thought of him answering but at the same time I didn't want him to at all out of fear that he was just using me for his selfish game.

"I wish I could tell you why, Hermione. But I can't. When I was racking my brains to find someone who wouldn't judge me for what I was forced into, I thought of you." He replied in the same quiet voice.

At the words "forced into" I could only think of what it must be like to be Draco Malfoy. I didn't know enough about him yet to decide if my conclusion about his awful life was correct or if I was mistaken, but I had a pretty good sense I was right about him. That he didn't want this, he didn't want to be a Death Eater, that he wasn't as evil as everyone thought he was. But who was I to judge?

We parted ways at the door of the library and I couldn't help thinking about the last time we parted at this door. I couldn't help but remember the feeling of his pale, warm lips felt on mine.

"Well, thanks for you the help Hermione." Draco said at the door. He had his hand on the know about to open it.

"Don't mention it. I can't." I laughed. And then this time it was me who started it. I leaned in and pressed my lips to his. He kissed back putting his hand at the back of my neck pulling me closer to him. I could feel heat starting at my lips, where we were connected, and spread through my entire body making the tips of my fingers and toes tingle with the feeling.

We separated after a few seconds but it was enough to get my heart racing. When I looked at Draco, I was glad to see him panting, too.

"Well, I'll see you in Defense Against the Dark Arts tomorrow," I said picking up my bag from where I had dropped when we had kissed.

"Yeah see ya. Mudblood." But the word wasn't said with a sneer or scorn. It was said with a smile. A little proud, maybe, but definitely not meant to be angry or used as an insult.

I left the library with a flushed face. I felt like I knew Draco Malfoy.


	4. Chapter 4

So chapter 4! alright so i want to clear something up before you read so you don't rip my head off later:

This is a Dramione fic, yes but i also wanted it to make sense for where it was in the story line of Harry Potter so to clear this up, Hermione does mention Ron but you'll see why.

The Ron/Harry/Hermione moment towards the endish place is from Chapter 14 of The Half Blood Prince, Felix Felicious (sp?) but written well in Hermione's point of view.

Um read, review, enjoy,

and let me know what you think about me doing a kind of song fic about Draco to Waiting For The End by Linkin Park. . .

_djpaulyc_

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><p>I remember reading in a book once that when you are lost your true love will find you. But here I am truly lost and yet no one has.<p>

The library after hours is very dark and also a very good place to hide when all you want to do is cry; which coincidentally is exactly what I wanted to do there. The common room was crowded and I really just wanted to be alone with my thoughts. Things had been happening and there was no way I could do any thinking in loud common room.

So there I was with tears rolling down my face sitting in front a shelf of books about magical creatures and how to care for their wounds. I resisted the urge to pull one out and begin reading. When I was calmed down enough I pulled out my wand and nonverbally conjured a Patronus and sent it to him with the message _'come to the place where it all began'_ signed- Otter.

How I managed a Patronus I still don't know considering how down I was. But I did, and minutes later he arrived in his pajamas in Slytherin colors of green and silver. He didn't dare call out my name with Filch lurking around the castle but somehow he found me exactly where I was in the magical creatures section in front of the healing of wounds. The moment his gray eyes swept over me he crouched beside me and pulled me into his chest. My weight caused him to lose balance and he fell onto the library floor with his arms wrapped around me and my head against his heartbeat.

"Hermione, what happened?" Draco whispered in the dark room, neither of us bothered to pull out our wands and light them.

"What do you think happened, Draco? It was him again. Why do I let him do this to me?" I whispered to his heart.

"You tell me. Because right now all I want to do is go up to Gryffindor tower and rip his Ginger head off. But I won't because I want to hold onto this moment a little bit longer. But tell me, why did you call me?" He murmured into my hair as he pressed his face into it.

"Why? You silly boy. Why would a girl ever call a boy out of his room at 10 o'clock? I need this Draco. I needed you here. I needed your arms around me. I needed your heartbeat in my ear. Please don't ruin this moment. Not yet."

"Ruin this moment? Ruin this perfect moment holding you to my chest? Now you are a silly girl." Draco laughed silently in my ear.

We stayed like that for a while, with my ears strained to hear his heartbeat and his nose pressed into my hair smelling my coconut shampoo.

"Draco," I whispered when I had dozed off.

"Yes?" He whispered back.

"Do you know what time it is?" I asked looking out the window I could see from where I was sprawled on the floor.

"No, Pansy, I don't." He replied. It took me a moment to realize what he said and when it sunk in I instantly stood up and ran out the library door with even more tears staining my cheeks.

When I was back in my dorm I pulled out some parchment and a quill and ran down to the common room and began writing out my feelings. I knew that I really didn't have anyone else. Ron was part of the problem, Harry was concerned with Ginny, Ginny was concerned with Dean, and Draco seemed concerned with his real one true love Pansy Parkinson.

I put my quill in some ink and began:

_ Dear Padfoot, (because he will never actually read this)_

_ Life, if you didn't already know, sucks at the moment. For me at least. Harry is fine, he's a magnificent Captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team. Ron, surprisingly, is a good Keeper when he isn't pressured. The first Quidditch match of the year is tomorrow. Me, however, I am falling to pieces. _

_ Here's the deal, I like Ron. I like Ron a lot. But he's been giving me the cold shoulder lately and neither Ginny nor Harry will tell me what's going on with him. But here's the catch, Sirius, I think I'm falling for Draco Malfoy. You don't have to tell me how completely crazy that sounds because I know. Believe me I know! But there was just something about him that I liked or I thought I liked. He was lost and I thought I had found him. Obviously that was extremely foolish of me but that's whatever for now. We were friends and then we kissed and then, well then things happened and I fell in love with him. And as I write this I know that all the words are true. _

_ But something just happened that is causing me to cry my eyes out. Draco and I were together tonight. I was upset with Ron, again because I like him a lot and I know you can love more than one person, so I went to the library after hours and called him down to console me and we fell asleep and everything was perfect. But he's a boy and he had to ruin it. He me called Pansy, the name of a different girl who he's known to lead on. Why does he get to me like he does? Why do I let him get to me like that? I wish you were here Sirius. _

_ Sincerely,_

_Hermione Granger_

I rolled up the parchment looked around the empty common room and headed back upstairs. I threw the parchment into my trunk and lay down on my bed and waited for sleep to come.

My sleep was interrupted with violent images of Ron and Draco and Pansy. The images of Pansy stroking Draco's hair on the first day back from break hurt much more than any other. I cried in my sleep, I know because I woke up with my eyes puffy and my cheeks wet. I hid in my dormitory for a while, while I waited for the signs of tears to vanish. When they did I dressed in my Gryffindor clothes and headed off for the Great Hall I was still upset with Ron about treating me so terribly so I paused when I reached the table to see how they were both doing.

"How are you both feeling?" I asked looking at the

back of Ron's ginger head wondering what he could be so angry about.

"Fine," said Harry, who was handing Ron a glass of pumpkin juice. "There you go, Ron. Drink up." Ron had just raised the glass to his lips when I realized why Harry had his glass in the first place.

"Don't drink that, Ron!" Both Harry and Ron looked up at me staring as though I was mad.

"Why not?" said Ron.

I gave Harry a dirty look because I could not even believe what he had just done. "You just put something in that drink."

"Excuse me?" said Harry with the smirk on his face that meant he was up to something.

"You heard me. I saw you. You just tipped something into Ron's drink. You've got the bottle in your hand right now!" I pointed at the little bottle hidden in his palm.

"I don't know what you're talking about," said Harry, stowing the little bottle hastily in his pocket.

I warned Ron not to drink it but he drained the glass anyway. I swear, still, that Harry did it in front of me because any objection I would have had Ron would have done the opposite.

After a little row with Harry, he brought up me Confunding McLaggen. Harry constantly acted as though I didn't understand Quidditch but I did. I just didn't play it. I knew more than he thought, like how Ron was an amazing Keeper; when he wanted to be.

Ron smacked his lips as if to prove a point and I stormed away suddenly thinking about watching both Draco and Ron play quidditch together.

I was surprisingly lucky, as though I had taken the luck potion, because Draco was not playing that day. Gryffindor won and Ron was the big hero. I congratulated him as every Gryffindor did but then I left. I had to get away. Ron was snogging Lavender and Draco had still called me Pansy.

I left the party and found an empty classroom. I pulled out my wand and created the birds out of thin air and hoped they would cheer me up. I was wrong however. Not only did they not cheer me up, I had screwed up one and it flew lopsided. Harry came in after a while and I cried on his shoulder. I could tell he thought it was over Ron but he hadn't a clue.

Ron and Lavender showed up minutes later and interrupted my crying session. He tried to say something but I just imagined his face as Draco's and aimed the birds at his head. It was a great triumph, beating Ron with them. It took out a lot of frustration


	5. the amazing bouncing fer   never mind

Okay, so the first thing i have to say is "Do not rip my face off!" and the reasoning behind that is that I did not make this an entirely Dramione chapter. I think you'll like it though. Enjoy. Review. Read. ECT...

_djpaulyc_

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><p>If you thought that was the end and I simply gave up on Draco and focused on Ron then you are sadly mistaken, although again I wish I had. No. I may be the brightest witch of our age but I was not so smart.<p>

Sure I sulked a lot, in my dorm and the library, even though that place made me unusually sad. Harry had noticed but he still thought that I was upset with Ron hooking up with Lavender, which I was but I was also happy for him.

I still had one problem; I didn't have a date for Slughorn's party. Ron had promised he would go with me and Draco was not talking to me. So one day in the library I thought of a common figure of hate in both of their lives. I remembered in one incident during a study session with Draco where he mentioned his absolute despise of Cormac McLaggan who is a certain rival of Ron. When I saw him in the library that day I fixed my hair and my top and went over to him.

"Hey." I smiled sweetly.

"Um, hi?" He answered looking back down at his work. He was a seventh year and was much too important to talk to a lowly 6th year like me.

"I was wondering if you would help me with an essay I have to write for Professor Slughorn's class. I heard you are something of a genius in Potions." I gave a flirty flip of my hair. I in fact had never heard anything about him being good at Potions. Fred and George once told me he was next to mental.

McLaggan looked up then and turned his body full force toward me, as if he wanted show off his muscles. "I can help. I am, you know, one of the best Potions students in my year." He gave a slight smile.

We worked for a while, silently at first and then we were talking up a storm. Or he was talking and I was trying to correct his mistakes on my Potions essay. He kept telling me about how great he was at Quidditch and what a shame it is Harry didn't pick him to be Keeper.

I was good with drowning him out but I couldn't handle when he placed his hand on my knee. So to end the awkwardness of his hand on me I picked it up and looked him in the eye. "Cormac?"

"Hmm?" He looked like a doe trapped in headlights. I held back the urge to laugh.

"Well I was wondering, since I don't have a date and the Slug Club's party is coming up soon if you would be my date?" I bashed my eyelashes like I had seen Ginny do when she wanted something.

"Of- of course Hermione!" He exclaimed. I dropped his hand picked up my stuff, thanked him and told him I had a lesson next.

I walked out of the library feeling accomplished and proud that I could handle my own when I needed. That'll show Draco and Ron. I don't need either of them. Good riddance!

I went back to my dorm only to find Lavender talking rapidly about what she and Ron were doing for Christmas. I grimace and wondered if she knew he often went home for Christmas to spend it with the brothers he didn't get to see all the time with Harry, whom she was referring to as That Boy That Won Won Always Talks About. Then she gave me a withering look like I had done something awful. I grabbed a book out of my chest and slowly backed out of the room. I ran down the stairs and ran straight into Ron.

"Ow! Hermione!" He squeaked when I hit him. I looked up into his face and almost started bawling. But I held it back.

"I'm almost late for Ancient Runes. Sorry." I said half-heartedly.

"You don't have Runes this hour. This is your free hour. What are you doing?" He looked down at me earnestly

"Well, if you must know I'm going to go on a study date with Cormac. Do you have a problem?" I asked looking down at the books.

"Yeah. I do, Hermione. Cormac is a git and he doesn't need to be around you. What are you doing with him anyway?" He looked angry now.

"Well since you and Lavender are together now, I asked Cormac to Slughorn's party. If you don't mind, of course." I asked feeling hopeful.

"No I don't mind. I have plans with Lavender that night that don't involve teachers' interruptions." He said briskly and walked up to the boys dorms.

I picked up my stuff and stormed out to the library. When I opened the door the first person I saw was of course Draco Malfoy and he was sitting at my usual table with his bag on the seat next to him as if to save it for someone. Other than him, the only other person in the library was Madam Pince the librarian.

I walked to an empty table and threw my stuff angrily on the table. I got up and moved to the section of Potions so I could finish the essay McLaggan destroyed with his zero knowledge of Potions.

"Hm." Someone grunted behind me when I reached up on a high shelf to get the right book Witches Brew and the Wizards That Created Them.

I turned around to face the person, even though I knew exactly who it was.

"Hermione," He started but I turned away from him. "Hermione wait," but I kept walking. I hadn't cried since I attacked Ron with the birds.

"I have nothing to say to you, Draco. Leave me alone. I have Potions essay to write." I walked back to my table and pulled out my parchment and a quill.

"Hermione, I'm sorry. I don't know why I called you Pansy. She's a bitch and you aren't you're the brightest witch of our age. Without you I'm nothing but a ferret." He was on his knees. I was pretty sure he was groveling and totally out of character but I was also pretty sure he wouldn't do it if he didn't mean it.

"Draco Malfoy and the Amazing Bouncing Ferret. Without me you are him again? Are you sure about that one?" I said shakily. I wasn't sure why I was feeling nervous and scared at that moment. Maybe it was because I knew the words Draco spoke were true.

"Hermione, I'm serious. Please. Forgive me?" He stood up and looked me right in the face. I felt my cheeks and ears burn.


	6. Mistletoe and Other Kisses

Sorry this took forever to put up. I'll try to update more but right now we're writing papers for lit and i need to focus on that and not this. I should have one more chapter up before Thanksgiving (the 24th) umm this again isnt entirely Dramione but it is mostly. Enjoy. Review. The usual.

thanks!

~djpaulyc~

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><p>I wish I had let him grovel a bit longer, looking back on it now. But I didn't, of course I didn't.<p>

"Draco," I whispered as my face grew warmer and warmer.

"Hermione?" He sounded hopeful.

"Go to hell." And I stormed out of the library carrying a stack of books that I hadn't checked out.

So maybe I lied to you. Made you think that I couldn't be tough but like I said, I was learning to handle my own when needed. I was scolded immensely when I went back to the library to return the books. I'm sure to this day that I was lucky I didn't get banned from the library, my favorite place in the school, but only because I swear Madam Pince felt bad for me. She had seen it all, everything that went on with Draco. Everything.

I let Draco stalk my unconscious thoughts at night and after about a week I discovered that I wasn't sleeping soundly anymore. Maybe it was because every time I would get to a happy moment in my dream Draco would utter one word. The word that shattered me entirely. The word that caused the pain to begin. Pansy.

I was a bit more irritable now that I wasn't getting enough sleep. I decided that I had better see Draco at least one more time to see if he still was interested in apologizing.

I went to the library every day, this time waiting for someone who I needed and wanted to see. I even hung around the stairs to the Slytherin common room just waiting for Draco. I realized one day that I was getting desperate. I felt like Harry whose actions were more stalkerish, the Marauder's Map.

When I finally saw Draco, it was exactly a half an hour until Slughorn's Christmas party. It was outside the library and I had given up on finding him entirely.

"Ouch." I had my nose in a book and once again not watching where I was going ran into him square in the chest.

"Oi. Sorry." He leaned down and picked up my books that had fallen out of my hand when I ran into him.

"It's alright, I think. Nothing a little Repairing charm can't fix." I said. When I realized who I was talking to I shut up and looked at him full in the face. "Where have you been?" I demanded. "I have been looking everywhere for you!" I exclaimed a little loudly because some Ravenclaw girl looked over and sniggered.

"I've been around. The common room mostly. Why? Why have you been searching so carefully for me?" He raised an eyebrow at me.

"Because I was wondering if, if you would let me accept your apology." I said rushed.

"If I would let you accept my apology? The one I gave you before? Why do want to forgive me now? Is there something I'm missing? I'm serious. Why now, when just the other day you told me to go to hell? What changed?" He looked startled.

"If I told you the reason, you'd just laugh." I responded taking back the books. Our hands brushed for just a moment and I got chills.

"I don't think I would laugh. I haven't laughed since you ran out on me." He gave a faint smile but it faded instantly and I began wondering if I had just imagined it entirely.

"You promise?" I whispered. He nodded. , "Alright, I don't sleep anymore. You haunt the hours I should be sleeping. I can't even pay attention in Potions anymore. Haven't you noticed?"

He looked at me blankly. "You don't sleep anymore. I haven't slept since that night. You haunt my thoughts every hour of every day. Please sleep." He said taking my upper arm.

"Draco?" I had no idea what he was doing.

"We should go for a walk in the snow." He stated.

"I can't. I have to get ready for Slughorn's party." I said freeing myself from his grasp.

"Right I forgot about that. Blaise told me about it." He put his head down.

"Yeah. So uhm, will you meet me before. In the corridor right above the party?" I asked in with my eyes beginning to feel wet.

"Yeah of course." He responded and then looked around to see if the coast was clear. When it was he pressed his lips to my forehead. At that moment my heart ached for more. Just a bit more. But it never came. Draco walked off toward the dungeons and I was left with a burning sensation where his lips contacted with my skin.

I marched off back to the common room nodded at Ron, who was sitting on the couch in front of the fire trying, and failing, to keep Lavender off him. I smiled as I went up the stairs to get ready for the party. I slipped on my pale pink dress and heels to match, brushed my hair then added the Sleekeazy's Hair Potion to it so it would be manageable at least for a few hours' time. I pulled it back into an elegant knot and dabbed on a bit of make-up. I spritzed a bit of perfume and walked out. McLaggan, much to my annoyance, was waiting at the bottom of the stairs for me.

I noticed Ron staring at me when I reached the bottom and his face resembled that of the night of the Yule Ball. I could only imagine the words I had yelled at him were reiterating inside his head 'Next time there's a ball ask me before someone else does and not as a last resort'.

I took McLaggan's hand and we walked down the corridors toward the Potion's Master's office. On the way I heard a bunch of students commenting on me. But for once none of it was bad. There was talk of how skinny I was, how pretty my hair was, how they never noticed how bright my eyes looked. I blushed a pale pink color and lifted my chin.

Everyone was noticing me and I didn't feel horrible about it. At that moment I was almost glad that I had let slip to Pavarti that Cormac and I were together. That I let Ron hear, everyone hear. I could hear my words echo in my head 'I only like really good Quiditch players.'

We enter the party and the first thing I heard was "Ah Miss Granger! How lovely to see you! And you Cormac! Come, come you must have a picture!" Professor Slughorn exclaimed. First Slughorn took a picture with me then with Cormac and then with the both us and then one of just the two of us. Then I was introduced to the vampire and the writer who wrote all about him.

"Do you know Harry Potter?" He asked me as I grabbed a glass of mead.

"He's only one of my best friends." I said taking a large gulp of the spirit.

"Really? I was just saying to one of my friends in London that there needs to be a biography on The Boy Who Lived. I mean everyone wants to know more about the Chosen One. Do you think he would be up for it?" He said looking over my head. I had the feeling he was looking for better company.

"Sorry, no I don't think he would be up for it. Oh I think I see a friend of mine. Excuse me." And I moved away from the short man with strong smell of garlic.

Cormac grabbed my wrist and pulled me away to a quieter area of the party. Everyone there was standing in a big arch around the center of this one little corner. At first I wondered why but when Cormac brought me closer he instantly stuck his tongue down my throat. He was kissing me and I wasn't feeling a thing. Emotionally, I mean, because I could feel everything; his feet on top of mine, his arms squeezing my neck, even his tongue gaging me in my mouth. It was disgusting. I pulled away quickly apologized by telling him I needed to see Harry about something and ran out of there.

I did in fact see Harry after I had ran far enough away from Cormac.

"Geez Hermione, what have you been doing?" Harry asked when he saw me.

"I've just escaped. I left Cormac under the mistletoe." I sighed.

"Cormac McLaggen? That's your date?" Harry looked stunned.

"Yes. I thought it would annoy Ron the most." And Draco, I thought to myself. Harry shook his head, as if he could read my thoughts.

"Oh god here he comes. Hide me." And I ran behind Harry. When Cormac came closer, I dashed through the crowd to keep away from Cormac's lips.

I snuck out through a group of old witches and out the door. I dashed down the corridor and up a set of stairs to the next floor. I saw his white blonde hair sitting against the wall.

"Hey." I whispered.

"Where were you?" He asked accusingly.

"Cormac showed up at the bottom of the stairs and took me to the party. I didn't want him to. I had full intention to come and see you." I informed. He looked at his feet, which were stretched out in front of him. He got up then, looked me in the eye and then we kissed. It was the kind of kiss that burned the lips and made you want more. Which I got, finally. It was the most passionate kiss I ever had.


End file.
